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      <h1>Sri Swami Satchidananda:</h1>
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<ul>                   
	<li>'Sri' in Hinduism is considered a sacred sound and whenever pronounced holiness is added. It is used out of respect for a holy man or deity. </li>
	<li>'Swami' means 'master'. A swami is a monk, who has withdrawn from all worldly possessions and attachments, to totally devote himself to God and the service of all beings.</li>
</ul>

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<p>Swami Satchidananda was born in 1914 to a devoted Hindu family who affectionately called him ‘Ramu’. After graduating from agricultural college, he started to work for his uncle’s company, importing motorcycles.
By the age of 23 he became a reputed, multi-skilled, adept manager at the India’s National Electric Works’. During this period he got married and they had two children.<br/>
He started his spiritual journey when his wife suddenly died, five years later. <br/>
For years he traveled through India, searching for authentic sages, saints and spiritual masters. After being initiated he studied along with the renowned Sri Ramana Maharshi. His journey then took him to Rishikesh, where he discovered his guru: Sri Swami Sivananda. <br/>
Sri Swami Satchidananda was often ridiculed for his modern interfaith approach to Hinduism and other innovations. <br/>
Soon after this first visit to New York City in 1966 he moved to America and eventually became an American citizen. He brought his teachings of yoga, selfless service, ecumenism and enlightment to the western world.
He pronounced the opening speech at the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival in 1969. He became the spiritual guru of many Hollywood actors and western musicians.</p>

<p>Over the years he ordained many western disciples into the order of sannyasa gave hundreds of lectures and wrote numerous books.
He was the founder of the Integral Yoga Institute and the ashram of Yogaville in Buckingham, Virginia. It was here, in 1986, where he opened the Light of Truth Universal Shrine (Lotus temple).<br/>
This great spiritual leader made eastern spirituality available to the west and worked to unite all believes. He died in his native Tamil Nadu in India on the 19th of August, 2002.</p>

<p>The beautiful lotus temple founded by Sri Swami Satchidananda: "The Light of Truth Universal Shrine". <br/>
This is the first shrine ever built to house altars for every major faith and also faith less- known and those not yet known. Open to everyone, open to all faiths to meditate and pray using the Light as the universal symbol of the Divine.</p>

<h1>The Integral Yoga Yantra</h1>
This yantra is a representation of the entire universe. A yantra is a physical expression of a mantra. A yantra is a Divine aspect in a geometrical expression.<br/>
The centre is formed by a dot, the expression of God. In the beginning there was the word, and the word was God. In Sanskrit they say. "Nada, bindhu, kalaa"-the sound-then the dot-then the art or rays.<br/>
The bindhu or dot is the smallest visible particle.<br/>
The very first physical expression, the core of the cosmos.<br/>
Around the dot are three rings, representing the three gunas or basic qualities of nature: sattva (balance), rajas (activity) and tamas (inertia). In yogic thinking everything manifests uniquely, as a unique combination of these three.</p>

Around the three circles there is the hexagon. A crystal is six-sided when you take a photograph. The yantra has six triangles around the centre, symbolizing the first speck of matter which expresses itself as a more complex matter like a crystal.<br/>
The six triangles are a combination of two larger triangles, one passing the other. The triangle with the apex upward represents the positive or masculine aspect and the inverted triangle is the negative or feminine aspect.<br/>
In Sanskrit this concept is called: Siva-Shakti. An equal combination of the male and female, blending perfectly together, no matter how you turn the yantra. This complete whole in itself represents the entire nirguna (unmanifest) as well as saguna (manifest) aspects of the Supreme.</p>

<p>Once the triangles come together they can also represent the six basic Tattvas or principles – the five senses and the mind as the sixth. The six-sided crystal then manifests outward in further expansions of the primordial energy and matter. This happens out of love. So all the beautiful lotus petals represent a loving manifestation.<br/>
Another explanation is the eight inner petals represent the subtle elements while the sixteen outer ones indicate their grosser manifestations.</p>

<p>The three large circles surrounding the lotuses express the three worlds: causal, astral and physical. However the divine expression is unlimited, therefore the circles are frames by a square with gaps pointing outward representing the infinity of creation.</p>

<p>Om Shanthi, Shanthi, Shanthi.  </p>

Quotes by Swami Satchidananda:
<ul>
	<li>"More people have died in the name of God and religion than in all the wars and natural calamities. But, the real purpose of any religion is to educate us about our spiritual unity. It is time for us to recognize that there is one truth and many approaches. The basic cause for all the world problems is the lack of understanding of our spiritual unity. The need of the hour is to know, respect, love one another and to live as one global family. Our humble aim in building the LOTUS is to spread this message."</li>

	<li>"Not only does charity begin at home. Everything begins at home, including spirituality."</li>
    
	<li>"The same thing can be both good and bad. Whenever you speak of good, bas is also present. The world is a mixture of both. There is not good without bad. They are both sides of the same coin. Both are necessary. We have been given free will and discriminating capacity to select what is beneficial to us and to avoid what is detrimental to us. Even Cobra poison can be used as medicine."</li>

	<li>"We can see the same spirit in everybody only when we know we are that spirit, Atman or Self. Only a person who has understood his own Self can see that Self in everybody."</li>

	<li>"Music is celestial sound, and it is sound that controls the whole universe, not atomic vibrations. Sound energy, sound power, is much, much greater than any other power in the world."</li>

	<li>"Whatever you do let it be a perfect actions. What is a perfect action?? That brings no harm to anyone and some benefit to someone, including yourself."</li>

	<li>"Meditation is to calm the mind, bring the mind together. If you are already restful, peaceful, why do you meditate?"</li>

	<li>"Our own true nature is Infinite Joy! Always happy, Always peaceful, Always free."</li>
</ul>
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